Lt. Ruth Jones
Currently the Head of the Xenobotany Deaprtment onboard the USS Excalibur. She graduated from the San Francisco Starfleet Academy in 2292. She received her commission for The Eirlys after she graduated from the Academy, but later enrolled for the re-built Excalibur ''in 2297. Early Life and Education Ruth Jones was born on the 14th of May 2266 in Napa, San Francisco CA. Her grandparents were both rescued from ''The Kelvin ''in 2233, and her Great-Uncle is ''Admiral Peter Jones ''from the Starship ''Eirlys (Snowdrop.) She graduated from Justin-Sienna High in 2284, and after a failed career in cake-selling, she enrolled at Starfleet in 2288. Jones seemed secure in choosing the Science Division, but was rumoured to have taken a slight interest in Xenoanthropology and Astrophysics before settling on a Botany course. She passed with her BA Hons. degree in Xenobotany and graduated in 2292. Career Jones received a request to join the crew of the newly commissioned Excalibur ''in 2294, but had already received a commission aboard her Great-Uncle's ship ''The Eirlys, which was a basic passenger ferry for Tourists visiting an area of great beauty in a tiny galaxy just outside of the Solar System (whose name Jones can pronounce correctly, though not many others can.) In 2293, Jones published a textbook simply entitled "A guide to the Flora of Terra" ''(which was translated by a freshly graduated Kaan Ayfer into 54 languages, including Vulcan, Klingon, Bajoran and, naturally, Welsh.) She was in the middle of a shift when the news of the ''Excalibur ''massacre finally reached their ship's radios, and blames herself to this day for not being onboard with the majority of her classmates from the Academy. As soon as she was able, she asked permission to exchange her post to the refurbished Excalibur in 2297, and was soon promoted to head of the Department as she somehow managed to organise her small group of ensigns into re-organising the decrepit Xenobotany Department from the ground up. Her team consists of two Ensigns, T'Paila and Maureen O'Sullivan. She has recently taken the initiative to open the Deaprtment's doors to any memeber of the crew if they so wished to help with the workload, which has successfully increased the Deaprtment's overall workforce as a semi-permanent member of the team- Ensign Luke Harris from Engineering- has proved invaluable. Personal Life Alongside Alison Brenin, her current Captain, Jonesie had a surprisingly large circle of people she’d consider herself on friendly terms with during her Academy years (including the majority of the Yeoman staff currently on board the Excalibur.) It’s one group of friends that she currently misses the most; those who’d been in her English Lit classes with her. They’d been planning on writing a Murder Mystery novel with one of them- a clad-all-in-black, gold hearted, fluffy haired chain smoker- as the serial killer. She loved them, and still does; when she’s having a moment when she feels alone, she longs for this group of like-minded people and the potential future they could have had. After they graduated, they all went in different directions. Apart from Ruth, half of them were assigned to the original Excalibur, and the other half were scattered around the other Constellation ships. Miriam, Iestyn, Freya, Cadi, Lizzie and Baden were all assigned to the Excalibur. Miriam’s family was half Welsh, half French, and was a noted Linguist at the age of 17, even before she joined Starfleet. Iestyn was virtually never seen out of hs faded maroon sweater, and would flirt shamelessly with Baden, the mass Murderer of the story. Freya was a shy biologist who adored the old videos of Danandfill from the ancient You Chewed archive. Liz came from the same town as Iestyn, and was completely oblivious to Baden’s crush on her (despite being trained in strategy in the Academy.) Cadi, Miriam and Iestyn would often have discussions in Welsh- to the great bemusement of the mostly-English speaking circle- but Ruth swears to this day that once they were talking about an old series of books, about a song of fire and ice, or something like that. ("Saith Llyfrau?!" Iestyn had exclaimed in horror.) All but Baden died in the massacre, and he took the loss of Iestyn and Liz strongly. He walked out of the fleet- and away from their group- without a backwards glance. Jonesie once realised one day just before a shift that Baden had tried to call her at a god awful hour in the morning, but admitted via a curt message, when prompted, that it was a drunk call. It has been the only time he has ever contacted her since he fell off the radar. She isn’t sure if she loves him, but sometimes the worry and longing settles uncomfortably in her gut, until not even work can help. Sian, Ellie and Sally all serve aboard the USS Liverbird (LIE-vuh-bird) and sporadically message Ruth, though they perhaps weren’t as close as Ruth was to Liz or Baden. Elan and Cian, both full-time Welsh speakers- were sent to the Universal Translator’s department to work on tweaking the final sections for the Welsh language, and neither of them were heard from again either. There are moments where Jonesie wants to write that damned novel, but tiny, wordless excuses always stop her. She doesn’t even know what they are, other than that it ''does not and would not feel the same. Jones' current affialiations are mostly the crewmembers who meet in Rec Room three (between the Xenobot labs and the Engines.) These crewmembers include her own team (who she feels responsible for and extraordinarily fond of), a few Yeomans, Kaan Ayfer (her translator who, thanks to her textbook, has a few extra jobs on the side), Luke Harris' crew members in Engineering such as Louise Robson, Mo Chaniago, Jack Lancaster and Leon Thomas, and also other science staff, like Steph and Wil from the Biology department ''and ''even occasionally crew from the Phaser Conrtol Room. After the Man-eating plant fiasco near the beginning of the ship's five year mission (which Kaan can still imitate perfectly; scarily enough), Jones is left with the responsibilty of caring for a cannibalistic Tribble, who she has affectionately named Lecter. It continues to grow at an alarming rate, as it was last measured at over 3 feet tall and had grown the ability to shuffle away quietly enough that other crew members have been tasked to caring for the overgrown fluffball too. Category:Sciences Category:Lieutenants